The Malaysian Insider

NOV 21 — Several days ago, I received an urgent message from a friend inviting me to a seminar on “Corruption Prevention in Business Sector 2009” organised jointly by the MACC, MACC Consultation and Prevention of Corruption Panel and the Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia.

The friend – whose name I need not mention here – is an MACC advisory committee member who knows full well my scathing opinion of the MACC and its work to date. “Come to the seminar as my guest and hear them out” he urged me. “Rome was not built in a day; we must be constructive not destructive”.

NOV 21 — Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) akan menyerahkan kepada Peguam Negara berhubung tindakan membuat rayuan keputusan mengehadkan waktu menyoal siasat saksi hanya pada waktu pejabat.

Ini bermakna keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi kelmarin berhubung tatacara siasatan SPRM yang telah termaktub di dalam akta suruhanjaya itu masih belum muktamad.

Masih ada ruang untuk SPRM membuat rayuan — lantaran keputusan tersebut dilihat ada baik dan buruknya. Hakim yang berkenaan sememangnya memberi tumpuan kepada sudut positif terutama dalam menafsirkan penggunaan perkataan “sehari ke sehari”.

NOV 21 — Those who argue that the United States is in decline point to some compelling empirical evidence: a struggling economy, a discredited model of economic and social planning, and of course, the apparent growth of China’s power.

While these changes are beyond doubt, the implications are debatable. A recent ubiquitous implication has been that US President Barack Obama’s visit to the region instantiates the irrevocably diminishing position of the US in Asia. This is seen, it is argued, in the visit’s accent on seeking growth and markets from Asia, an explicit willingness to accommodate the interests of China rather than contain it, and the difficulty in rebuilding America’s troubled relations with allies like Japan.

NOV 20 - Twitter’s been making a lot of changes lately. They’ve introduced new technologies like lists — which is kind of like a friend filter on Facebook — and a new way to share one another’s Tweets.

Usage on the company’s website has taken off like a rocket, up 1,703 per cent year-over-year in September, and that doesn’t even count people who access the service through text messaging or specialised applications on their smartphones or computers.

But today was perhaps the most radical change of all. Twitter changed its cosmically deep and evocative signature query, “What are you doing?”

Now, Twitter wants to know, “What’s happening?”

NOV 20 — When the MCA delegates decided to sack both Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek in the Oct 10 EGM (“1010 EGM”), the Chinese community stood up and took notice of the courage of the MCA delegates. This has not happened for a very long time, but what the delegates did on 1010EGM obviously earned the respect and admiration of many in the community.

But later when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the 1010 EGM decision is ultimate and must be adhered to, Ong and Chua decided to ignore it.